The Panorama II DVR (Now sold as the Panorama S) was released in early 2013. This DVR is manufactured by the Chinese company Shenzhen Onstar Technology Co. Ltd. This camera has excellent video quality during the day and good video quality at night. The camera records 1080p at 30fps and comes with Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) to provide good night recording.

Overall, video quality is very good but there have been some items to be aware of. Night videos are a little bit grainy but this allows for more details to be captured. Also in very dark areas there appears to be a violet “fog”. Bitrate is a reasonable 12Mbps as well (later firmware versions have increased this bitrate upto 21Mbps, but 15Mbps appears to be the ideal balance between quality and size). The Panorama S uses a CSR Zoran Coach 12P ZR364242BCCG Processor and a Sony Exmor IMX122LQJ CMOS sensor (updated in 2015 with the Sony 2015 updated Sony Exmor IMX322 CMOS sensor).

The Panorama S has a 2.7″ touch screen, G-sensor and an external GPS is available. While the camera has buffered parking mode (5 seconds before motion / impact) when hardwired you need to manually set motion detection on when parking which is not the most convenient.

An interesting feature is that you can power it from a 12V power source or 5V Micro USB. Note that powering from 5V Micro USB will not start up the camera for automatic recording when power is supplied to this socket. The 5V source is mainly designed when using at home to view video files on the camera or TV screen via an AV cable. You could also record manually by pushing the record button. Some owners have indicated that the “event” setting is too sensitive and locks too many files.

Size of the camera is a bit big at 103 mm x 48 mm x 36mm. Overall it is a fully featured camera, with impressive video quality selling for a reasonable price. In fact it is one of the lowest priced dashboard cameras with a Sony Exmor CMOS sensor.

We would like to thank our member Niko, who provided the information for this review. You can read the original thread in our forum.

Panorama S

In early 2014, Powerucc released the Panorama S model. This model is virtually identical to the PanoramaII but has 2 changes.

Metallic ring around the lens (previously silver but not black) which allows for a CPL filter to be attached. This is for the export market only

A blue LED in the front of the camera (can be turned off)

Both the PanoramaII and the Panorama S use the same firmware. As of 2014, Panorama S is the model typically found for sale.

Known problems

Blurry Colors

A couple of owners have indicated color problems with their cameras as these following pictures illustrate. While rare, the camera is defective and must be returned for a new one.

DayLight Savings Time

The current Panorama firmware doesn’t have DayLight Savings Time correction. (1 hour offset)

Daylight Saving Time (United States) 2014 began at 2:00 AM on
Sunday, March 9
and ends at 2:00 AM on
Sunday, November 2

Between these dates all owners of the Panorama G or Panorama II, S with GPS attached should act accordingly.

If you live in California (Time Zone -08) Set your Time Zone to -07 instead.
If you live in New York (Time Zone -05) Set your Time Zone to -04 instead.

You can use normal time zone come November 2.

Mounting the Camera

Panorara II on the left and MateGo 300W on the right.

Panorara II on the right and MateGo 300W on the left.

Note that the camera now comes with an Arkon suction cup mount, which is reported to be good quality.

Sample Videos

Please Select 1080p from Youtube settings at bottom right corner.

Day Video

Night Video

Comparison Video between PanoramaII, Mobius and LS300W during the day

Comparison Video between PanoramaII, Mobius and LS300W during the night

PC Player

The PC player that comes with the Powerucc PanoramaII can be downloaded here. It is recommended to use Registrator Viewer especially if you are using this camera with GPS.

Large Capacity Cards

Note: Latest firmware versions have added native exFAT support for the Panorama. Formatting to FAT32 in the PC is no longer required for Panorama to achieve >32GB

Should I Purchase?

The Powerucc Panorama S was a good buy given its excellent video quality. However you may want to take a look at the newer model, the MateGo MG380G which is the upgraded version of this camera and includes built-in GPS.

Where to purchase for lowest price

shpkorea on eBay is the official authorized seller of this camera. They have a number of listings:

In China, similar cameras sell under the MateGo brand, SafeGo brand or unbranded. These cameras appear to be nearly identical to the Panorama branded ones but price is significantly cheaper. Sometimes these can be found on eBay.

Firmware

WARNING! MAKING CHANGES TO YOUR FIRMWARE ARE PERFORMED AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR DASH CAM AS A RESULT OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

Firmware Update Instructions

Connect Panorama2 IN-CAR via supplied 12v cigarette charger. NEVER UPGRADE USING 5v miniusb port on top of dash camera as a power supply source. USE ONLY 12v socket on the side of dash cam to connect to car cigarette lighter charger.

Switch on car ignition ( ACC ), – dash camera powers on, but will not be recording because there is no SD card inserted

Switch off dash camera by pressing power-off button on top. Do not switch off car ignition ( ACC )

After dash camera switched off, insert memory card with new firmware on it

Press and hold “menu” button

When holding down “menu” button press “power-on” button on top ( still holding down “menu button” )

Hold down “menu button” for 3-4 sec after Panorama2 power on and you see firmware download / upgrade “bar” activated and starts “runing”, then release “menu” button.

Wait until upgrade is finished. Do not touch anything on dash camera, or do not switch off an ignition during upgrading process, – otherwise you will brick device